Wanna succeed? Start being selfish and start pampering yourself. And while I am on the subject, how about stuffed peppers for Shabbas or as part of a meal during the week?

I have a lot of "one of the most important things I learned" stories.  Each one of them truly is one of the most important things.  This "important thing" is easy to remember, but really hard to carry out.  We did it and I want you to do it as well. 

It's being selfish about your goals and learning how to pamper yourself.  I specifically use the word selfish, because once I begin our discussion, that is how you will describe this action and you will want to balk at it.  Don't balk.  Don't roll your eyes!  Just listen to me and let it sink in!

Let me talk about selfishness.  I have always believed that anyone who calls themselves "selfless" was in reality "selfish".  The FreeDictionay.com defines selflessness as "having, exhibiting, or motivated by no concern for oneself; unselfish". 

I say: "Give me a break"!  Thinking only about others enables us to paint ourselves as the "great sacrificer" and enables us to show how we worry more about our kids, some worthless relative we barely know, small animals we would really rather step on and kill, the environment, our neighbors' obnoxious kids and diseases we can't even pronounce, than we worry about ourselves and that somehow that way of thinking makes us better people.  NO IT DOESN'T. 

It just means we are not taking care of the only resource we have – ourselves.  The idea that running ragged and not eating properly, so your kids will eat properly is nonsense.  IF YOU ARE NOT HEALTHY YOU CANNOT TAKE CARE OF ANYONE ELSE AND ARE A POOR EXAMPLE FOR EVERYONE ELSE.  So cut it out now!  Cut it out along with the oil, the margarine, the sugar and the bread.  It's unhealthy and cut it out.

I say spend the first MONTH of your new lifestyle thinking only about you, your needs and how you can accommodate and modify your life to include new lifestyle changes.  Take the time to think how you will deal with you.  How you will take the time to exercise (5-10 minutes a day); how you will plan your meals in advance (advance does not mean the second before you open the fridge; it means planning your coming week's menu as you prepare your shopping list) and how you will find the time to sit down and eat.

You don't have the time to do this?  You are too busy?  That's cool.  Extra weight contributes to snoring and when you snore you do not get the "good" sleep you need (not to mention the fact that no one else around you gets a good night's sleep either!).  Do you really want me to talk about how extra weight cuts your life short, makes you susceptible to life-threatening diseases like diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and the like?  I didn't think so.  So MAKE THE TIME NOW, otherwise you will have plenty of time in the hospital to think about it!

You must be selfish and say out loud "THIS IS MY MONTH.  And from now on and for the next 30 days I will think about how I can improve my lifestyle."  All it will take is 30 days to change your lifestyle.  It will take longer to lose the weight, but it starts with 30 days!

Make a list of FIVE goals for these 30 days:

Take a hard look at all the food items in your home and GET RID of the tempting ones. Replace them with less tempting, points-easy foods.  Think about eating fruit for a "sweet tooth" and eating vegetables/pickled vegetables for a "savoring tooth". 

1.   Clean out the fridge (it's only been a bit less than two months since Pesach – this should be an easy one to accomplish)

2.   Clean out the freezer

3.   Clean out the pantry

4.   Start making a menu for the coming week and then build your shopping list from this menu!

5.   Decide that this month you will walk up stairs instead of taking the elevator.

Before we get to this week's recipe – we have about a week before Shavuot.  Do you believe it?  I live by a very simple calendar: Rosh Ha'Shanna – Chanuka – Pesach – Rosh Ha'Shanna.  Basically we are "a shekel away" from Rosh Ha'Shanna. 

Be that as it may, Shavuot beckons and with it, the need to stuff ourselves with cheese, more cheese, oh and did I mention cheese cake?  As we enter the supermarkets every cheese and milk chain from Tnuva to Tara will have ladies plying us with cheese, sauces, yogurts and everything in between.  The pasta companies will be working overtime to entice us with noodles of every shape and size.  Do I even have to discuss the frozen foods section?  So before the onslaught and in time to plan your Shavuot menu, I will publish a special article on Surviving Shavuot: To Cheese or Not to Cheese – that is the question!

Now, let's get to this week's recipe.  This week we talk about a side dish, that can be made milchicks or fleishkes or parve, stuffed peppers.

Yochi's Stuffed Peppers

Hints and Tips:

·        You can stuff just about any soft vegetable that you can create a pocket: peppers, onions, squash, potatoes (but you already know I don’t want them!)

·        You can cook and serve the vegetables with their tops on or off.  To my taste the tops are "just for show" anyway!

·        I prepare one pepper per diner per meal. This is a great, points-friendly way to get more vegetables and a complex carbohydrate.

·        The best vegetables, especially when talking about peppers, are the ones that have a wide center that can be easily filled.  I select peppers that are about a fist-size high and a fist-size wide.

·        You can prepare this dish with either rice or quinoa.

·        So how much rice do you prepare?  To keep things points-friendly I make my rice-vegetable stuffing with at least twice the amount of vegetables as rice. 

This means that for 6 to 8 average stuffed peppers, I use half a cup of uncooked brown rice and lots of vegetables.

·        Any leftover rice-vegetable stuffing can be frozen and used for a subsequent meal.

·        So how much quinoa do you prepare?  Quinoa is a different story, about a quarter/half cup of quinoa goes a long way.  You need to experiment with the quantities.

·        First prepare your stuffing and make sure it cools before you prepare and cut your vegetables for stuffing.  This way the vegetables stay fresh inside and out! 

·        The easiest way to prepare the peppers is to cut off as little of the top as possible.  Then clean out and/or cut out the inside of the pepper. 

·        Be careful not to nick or cut the inside sides or bottom of the pepper. If you accidentally make a hole in the skin, you can always use pieces of the top to "plug" the hole.

·        Next you want to make sure the peppers can stand in the baking dish.  The easiest way to do this is to slice, oh so carefully, the very tips of the peppers.  Take off a paper-thin slice and then see if it stands without toppling over.  Keep on slicing until it stands alone.  Remember if you made a hole, you can always "plug" it with pieces of the top.

·        If you are working with long vegetables, like squash, you can have them lie on their side in the pan.

·        So now the question is what kind of pan do we bake the stuffed peppers in?  The easy answer is a Pyrex dish that is deep enough and wide enough to hold the size and number of peppers we are preparing, as well as the liquid for the sauce. Glass also conducts heat more evenly than metal and looks nicer if you serve the stuffed peppers directly from oven to table.

Ingredients:

·        Red peppers or any other applicable vegetable (one for each diner)

·        Ingredients for stuffing:

o   Brown rice or quinoa (I use half a cup of uncooked rice for 6-8 stuffed peppers

o   At least 2 medium size onions

o   Mushrooms  - one package

o   Spices: garlic powder, freshly ground pepper, paprika

o   Additional optional ingredients:

§  Chopped fresh parsley

§  Chopped garlic

§  1 large chopped carrot

§  1 -2 stalks of chopped celery

·        For sauce:

o   2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce

o   2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce

o   Spices: garlic powder, freshly ground pepper, paprika

o   Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

o   water

·        PAM

How to work:

1.   First prepare the stuffing.

2.   Prepare the rice (or your quinoa) as you usually do (you do not want the rice to be too sticky or over-cooked).  I've been using a microwave rice pot for years and the rice always comes out perfect!

3.   Once the rice is cooked, set it on the side to cool.  Cooled rice is easier to work with.

4.   Next, mince the onions (I don’t like to work with onions that are too finely chopped, but you can if you like this). If you wish to add other vegetables (excluding the mushrooms) to the rice stuffing, this is the time to mince them, as well. 

When cutting and preparing the vegetables, you should keep in mind that the rice-vegetable stuffing needs to fit comfortably into the pepper.

5.   Spray PAM in a frying pan deep enough to hold the vegetables and rice.  Add the onions and the other vegetables and mix.  Continue to stir the vegetables until the onions are almost translucent and the vegetables beginning to change color.

6.   This is the point that you will slice the mushrooms and add them to the pan. 

The reason that you do not add the mushrooms with the rest of the vegetables is that mushrooms are like sponges.  They will soak up any liquid from the pan, this is bad since a) you can easily burn the vegetables if there is no liquid in the pan and b) the mushrooms can become a soggy mess.  Both of these results will ruin the dish.

7.   Next add your spices and continually mix the dish.  You can add a bit of water if the mix becomes too dry or a small shpritz of PAM.

8.   Once all the vegetables are tender, remove the pan from the fire and let cool. 

9.   Add the rice to the cooled vegetables in the frying pan and gently mix well with a wooden spoon.  Add more spices.  Let cool completely.

7.   Now, prepare the vegetables for stuffing, as described above and place them in your baking dish.  Placing the peppers in the dish before you stuff them prevents you from over-handling and perhaps bruising the vegetable. 

8.   Carefully fill each pepper with 2-3 tablespoons for rice-vegetable mix.  Remember the number of tablespoons to count your points.

9.   Mix all the sauce ingredients, except the water, in a small dish: teriyaki sauce, sweet chili sauce, spices and parsley (optional).

10.                You should have a thick sauce; now slowly add water to get a thinner, lighter consistency.  Pour the sauce over and around the peppers.  I like to fill the baking dish with sauce almost half-way up the peppers, so I ensure they really cook in the sauce.

11.                Bake in a preheated oven to 180°C for about  30-35 minutes.  Cooking time may vary according to the oven and roasting pan material (glass or metal).  The dish is ready once the peppers begin to soften and brown around the edges and the sauce begins to bubble.

Enjoy!  Do you have any questions? Any comments?  Write me or Facebook me!  B'TeyAvon!